India’s Navy About To Carry Out Salvage Operation For Lost Ship Off Visakhapatnam

Following the recovering of the INS Sindhurakshak submarine that was lost to explosions in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in 2013, India’s Navy is now ready to salvage another vessel that unfortunately sank off Visakhapatnam during an exercise seven months ago. The incident resulted in the drowning of 5 people, four of whom can’t not even be traced to bring back their bodies.

Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar wanted to make sure that the Navy carefully examines and finds the exact causes of the incident by recovering the vessel.

According to various sources, the Union minister recently O.K.-ed the salvage operation, with expectations being that it will require approximately Rs 50 crore to be carried out. An empowered committee under Eastern Command has received the necessary authorization to gather a team of international salvagers in order to handle the task.

The vessel was not a front-line warship but there were, however, serious efforts to aid the investigation unit in order to determine the causes behind the sinking. The Indian Navy also underwent a charter deal regarding a Reliance Industries’ vessel in order to conduct underwater videography of the sunken ship at approximately 40 nautical miles off Visakhapatnam on the 6th of November, last year.

According to sources, some companies such as the U.S.-based Resolve Marine firm, which previously carried out the salvaging of the 3,000-tonne INS Sindhurakshak, are applying for the job which is to be assigned to the company with the lowest bid. The submarine’s recovery cost a total of Rs 240 crore due to the fact that it presented far more challenges. It required over 4 months for the appointed teams to bring it out and place it on a pontoon.

The rather old Torpedo Recovery Vessel sunk while taking part in a naval exercise. Despite carrying out a large-scale rescue operation, out of the 28-man crew, 5 couldn’t be saved, with one crew member losing his life during the course of the rescue operation and the other four going missing.

It served the role of a logistic support vessel for recovering dummy torpedos that were fired during exercises. Officials commented that the ship, which was constructed in the Goa shipyard, had been in service for more than 30 years. It took mere minutes for it to sink after sustaining a leak.

They also added that salvage operations require a high level of expertise. The ship’s location is known by navy divers – it lies even keel at a 1000-foot depth level.

Every salvage is unique and requires its own special approach. When the vessel is out, the investigation unit is going to be able to determine the causes behind the incident. The ship’s material condition is to also be carefully examined.

Parrikar has come out and stated that accountability must be fixed in order to efficiently deal with military accidents during peacetime conditions. The Navy is making sure that standard types of operational procedures are being adhered to in the strictest manner possible.

At the same time, the Coast Guard Dornier aircraft that was reported to have gone missing on June 8th off Chennai is yet to be found. The crash is only the 2nd one following the Coast Guard Dornier’s induction in 1986. The Coast Guard’s fleet which consists of 30 Dorniers accounts for 2 lakh (200,000) hours of flying without any accident.